The Los Angeles Dodgers repeated as NL West division champions with a win over long-time rival San Francisco Giants Wednesday. In the win, Clayton Kershaw added to his résumé for NL MVP by throwing eight innings and helping his cause with an RBI triple that tied the game.

Along with clinching the division, Wednesday’s win also secured home-field advantage for the Dodgers in the NL division series and left them with an outside shot of catching the Washington Nationals for the best record in the NL. However, that was put to rest when the Nationals won the first game of a doubleheader Friday.

Thus, the Dodgers entered their three-game series against the Colorado Rockies with their postseason position locked in and waiting to see who their first-round opponent would be. That wouldn’t come to fruition until Sunday when the Pittsburgh Pirates lost their game, which handed the St. Louis Cardinals the NL Central title.

While the Dodgers could neither improve or fall in the standings over the weekend, their final three games served as somewhat of an audition for those who are on the bubble for the postseason roster.

Manager Don Mattingly said he’d be meeting with general manager Ned Colletti prior to finalizing the NLDS roster so in the meantime, we asked our panel to tackle the task:

A healthy starting lineup should be ready to go come Friday. Turner and Van Slyke have been dependable bench players and provided help to the infield and outfield, respectively. With Ramirez struggling on defense, the Dodgers would benefit by keeping Rojas backing him up.

The final position spot came down between Darwin Barney and Ethier, but the outfielder gets the edge with his potential to get a base hit at any time. Ryu appears as though he’ll make his return in the postseason and retake his place as the team’s third starter.

Haren will be ready to go if needed, and Hernandez makes the pitching staff but in a bullpen role. Howell and Rodriguez represent the needed left-handed relievers with Wilson securing his spot as a right handed setup man.

No real surprises as my NLDS roster essentially consists of who the Dodgers have relied on and what’s worked. I gave some thought to adding Chris Perez and dropping a position player or Baez, but the fact that Perez hasn’t pitched since Sept. 21 and struggled for much of the year is tough to look past.

Of course the last time we saw Rodriguez he gave up the game-tying home run in the ninth inning Saturday, but he’s otherwise been an asset. Although it isn’t much, he brings some postseason experience to the table and is more rested compared to last year.

About The Author

Matt is a journalist from Whittier, California. A Cal State Long Beach graduate, Matthew occasionally contributes to Lakers Nation, and previously served as the lead editor and digital strategist at Dodgers Nation, and the co-editor and lead writer at Reign of Troy, where he covered USC Football. You can follow Matt on Twitter @mmoreno1015